


In Bloom

by Rhanon_Brodie (Glass_Jacket)



Series: A Word, or a Blow (or what the internet wants me to do: a collection of prompt ideas and drabble responses) [1]
Category: Arctic Monkeys, British Singers RPF, Indie Music RPF
Genre: Drabble, Gen, Tumblr Prompt, gratuitous use of quotes about flowers, platonic mattlex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-07 15:06:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6810319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glass_Jacket/pseuds/Rhanon_Brodie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"In joy or sadness, flowers are our constant friends." Okakura Kakuzo, 'The Book of Tea'</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Bloom

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr as a response to a fic ask meme. The prompt was 'flowers' and the pairing was 'Matt/Alex'. I thought it was fitting given the impending nuptials this week. This was written last spring before we knew the depth of Alex's relationship with Taylor. I think it's safe to say that the boy is completely besotted with her, but I didn't give them a happy ending here. No drama, though.

“ _Ow_! Christ!” Alex hisses as the pearl-topped pin pricks his finger again, and he snatches his hand away from Matt’s lapel to push the offended digit into his mouth and suck.

“ _Careful_ , Al!” Matt laughs gently. “Breana will have me head if I bleed on this suit.”

“M’sorreh,” Alex’s garbled reply comes. He frowns at the damn pin and the torch-red gerbera daisy that makes up the groom’s boutonniere, and sighs. “Should have ‘ad Cookie do this,” he grumbles.

“Cookie’s not me best man,” Matt points out, moving to the mirror to straighten his tie - and to ensure Alex hasn’t bled out all over the dark charcoal of his suit jacket. Satisfied that he’s still presentable, he looks back to Alex, who’s staring at his hands like he’s all thumbs.

“Yeah, but at least he has experience wiv this.” Alex slumps against the low dresser and twirls the end of the flower that’s secured with florists’ tape. “So how long did it take to decide on these things? Two months?”

Matt grins with a wink. “Three. They’re bloody _flowers_ , reyt? How could such a little fing be such a huge hassle?”

Alex can’t help but chuckle at Matt’s poor attempt to sound put-out. Truth be told, Matt was a sucker for his girl - for both of them, his soon-to-be bride and his eight-month old daughter. “I wish you could see her now, mate,” Alex says, changing the course of subject.

But Matt is nothing if not observant, especially when it comes to Alex, and he picks up on the wistfulness lacing his best man’s words, and dares to glance at where dark eyes focus on the flame-colored blossom between his fingers.

“How long are you gonna linger on her?” Matt asks gently. In his mind, it’s been a lifetime, but to a man with a broken heart, it is mere seconds in what seems to be an eternity of loneliness. He doesn’t know why Alex has such bad... _luck_ with the women in his life.

Alex’s gaze snaps up and fixates on Matt, beaming and handsome in his suit. Alex holds up the flower between them and smiles softly. “ _Earth laughs in flowers_ ,” he quotes grimly. “I’m the butt of the universe’s joke.”

Matt scoffs with a roll of his eyes. “What did I tell you when I asked you to be me best man?”

Alex pulls a face and meets Matt’s gaze. “Tha’ I weren’t allowed to be melancholy.”

“Well,” Matt says with a wrinkle of his nose. “Don’t know that I used the word ‘melancholy’, but that _was_ the sentiment, yes.” Still, he sinks down next to Alex and butts shoulders with him. He watches as Alex continues to twirl the flower, smiling at the ebony colored centre of the bloom, the flare of yellow that spread to carnelian and finally vermillion, a living flame cupped in his best friend’s hand. “It’ll happen. If it’s meant to happen, it will. An’ if it doesn’t, it doesn't mean you’re not worthy, aye? Look at Mal an’ Kelly - been together over ten years, you don’t see them runnin’ down the aisle.”

Alex huffs in agreement, and tilts his head back and forth. “Yeah. So why are you?”

“Because I love her,” Matt sums up.

“You make it sound so easy,” Alex groans, glancing at Matt sidelong.

“ _That’s_ how you know. I have faith in you, an’ your heart, Alex. Keep to your course, and, um… you know: _Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know ‘em_.”

Alex barks with indignant laughter, and cuffs Matt across the back of the head as only a brother can. “Fook right off with tha’,” he snorts.

Matt laughs, too, and then curls his arm around Alex’s shoulder and hugs him close, pressing a quick kiss to the top of the dark head. “M’glad you’re here, mate.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Alex grumbles, shoving Matt aside. “Who else were gonna stand up for you on such a joyous occasion?” He worms out from under Matt’s arm and then stands, gesturing for Matt to do the same. “Let’s get this flower on, yeah? Don’t wanna keep that girl waitin’ any longer.”

Matt’s smile is infectious, the light in his deep blue eyes obvious. “Reyt that,” he nods, grinning as Alex gently grasps the pin in one hand, and the flower in the other.

Focused on his task, Alex lets part of his mind wander. He hasn’t prepared a speech for the banquet, but as he finally gets the pin to go through the wool and the stem, straight and true, he is reminded of a quote he once read when he was up late at night, on the Google, searching for things he didn’t know needed searching.

When his time comes, and the bride and groom are blessedly joined, and watered, and fed, Alex stands, feeling all eyes on him as he approaches the podium. Staring about the room for a moment, he catches the gazes of his bandmates and their significant others, of friends outside their little group, and is content with the feeling of family. The room, he realizes, is blooming with love, and light, and warmth. Grasping the edge of the podium, he lets his mouth curl into its customary lazy grin.

“In joy or sadness,” he begins, “flowers are our constant friends. Tonight, I stand in awe of an endless field of faces turned upright to the radiance of Matt an’ Breana. Smile,” he pauses, taking a breath and steadying himself, “for you are all cherished in your everlasting bloom of love, and family, and we bask in theirs.”

Dry eyes are a rarity when he is through, but the smiles have unfurled like fiddleheads in the fresh morning light. He doesn’t know how he’ll be on the morrow, but he knows he’ll be fine tonight.

~end~


End file.
